Maria Luzviminda Barcega's Birth Story

5 July 2016
11:54pm
VBAC
Baby weighs 3.3kg
Exactly 40 weeks

I didn’t experience labour pain during my first pregnancy, so this VBAC is literally my first pregnancy. In my first pregnancy – I was so afraid of the pain that I already asked for epidural during my 2cm dilation. I progressed till 6cm and after 14 hours of labour (lying down, half body numb waiting for the next thing that could happen) the doctor decided I am progressing slow and should undergo emergency caesarean operation.
We wanted to wait some more, but when the doctor told us we are risking the baby then we opt for CS. I tell you what, my body didn’t agree to it and once they laid me down on the operating table they said I was hysterical so they had to put me to sleep, and the rest as they say is history. I have given birth to my very pretty, sweetest angel – Ysobel.

Am I a good candidate for VBAC? This was my first question, my doctor said yes but to tell you honestly even the doctors cannot answer straight as nobody can really tell, well there are some medical items that you have to pass for example your stitch wound from your last CS operation should be more than 2mm (which you can only find out on your 38th week), your baby is not too big (but my baby is big and I still decided to do it), of course you don’t have pregnancy complications that really requires CS such as high blood. Or the position of the baby is not right. But in my opinion (this is me saying it without medical background ok) it is only you who can decide if you want to do it and if you will stand by your decision and do everything for it to be successful.

How did I prepare? Besides physical preparations such as walking (lots of it), and pre-natal exercises. I prepared mentally and emotionally, I prayed a lot! Pain is only in the mind they say – I have a very low pain tolerance and that’s what I prepared for conditioning myself to think that pain is a matter of thought. Besides, I read somewhere that that’s what epidural does – sending something to your brain to disable the thought of pain. And no matter what, I have to deliver my baby in the most natural way possible – because that’s what I was made for. Bear a child and bring it to the world. So whether I like it or not, painful or not – I have to do it. No choice. So I better do it right!

My birth story. My due date was 5th of July and up to the night of July 4 I am not feeling anything, not much discharge (I was looking for the mucus plug) and no pain at all. I was a little worried cause I don’t want to be induced (remember I am hoping for the most natural birth possible). So around 12:30 of July 5 – I woke up with a sharp pain in my back, the pain that will wake you up but still tolerable. It come and goes, so I said maybe its contractions and I have to monitor the timing. I didn’t wake my Gerald up just yet because like me he would need the energy in case I am in active labour already.  The interval is within 4-5 minutes already by 3am and the pain is getting worse. But as what we have agreed (me and hubby) we will labour as much as we can at home! No medical interventions, no nurses to ask you if you want gas or epidural to help you in your pain. Plainly at home, if I feel like the head is coming out then that’s the only time we will go. But the pain is terrible and by 7am I can feel that urge to poop which they say is the sign that she will soon come out. So I took a bath (took my time) because the hot water helps lessen the pain, and asked my hubby to bring me to the hospital.

Around 8:30am – we are already there after 10 minutes or so the doctor arrived. Dr. Paul Tseng of TMC not to mention a very handsome guy and such a gentleman, asked me to rate the pain and I cannot because I don’t have a comparison since I didn’t felt the pain in my first pregnancy, so just to answer him I said 6 (because 5 for me is tolerable and 6 is pass that point). And the nurse said, according to the monitor I am already 10/10 in pain. So my doctor had to check (VE) and I was surprised when he said I am already 6cm!!! And so me and the hubby exchanged look and in our minds “this will be fast!” (and so we thought)

Delivery room: Pain, pain and pain. I danced, I sang, I hugged the giant yoga ball. I prayed. I danced, danced and danced and danced (as it is the most effective pain reliever for me) but dear Lord it is so painful. And my hubby cannot stop laughing of me dancing wearing a hospital gown (as he said he can see my butt) and I don’t care!! I just want the pain to go away and proceed pushing. And it was like that till I reached 8cm.

8cm – at 11am. I told my Gerald I wanted to give up and take epidural already, and then he said no! We can do it, so he said all the pep-talks he could for me to realized that we have come so far. But my progress is so slow and all because my water bag is still intact and I don’t want the doctor to burst it (remember most natural way). So we waited, and bear the pain.

Until 2pm, 3pm, 4pm I am still 8cm! 430pm we decided to ask the doctor to burst it and I progress to 9cm. Then at 730pm, I am still 9cm, so the doctor said I might need to take epidural to relax the cervix so it could finally open up to 10 and I can push! My God after hours of pain you want me to take epidural when I am already 9cm! But who would say No! So we did. And at around 9pm, finally I am 10cm dilated. I slept, oh yeah! Finally.

They woke me up to ask me to tell them if I am already feeling the urge to push, and I can’t feel anything, so they said they already lessen the epidural and I should feel it already. So I said to myself I wanted to feel the “pushing” and asked them to turn down the epidural off. And its painful, but what the heck this is it! I am pushing. The nurse gave me an impromptu push lessons and it was good. 2 pushes – ah she’s not going out. 3rd push – she called the doctor. On the 4th to 5th push – Doctor looking at my Gerald - Gerald gesturing in my open legs – “do you want to see the head?” Confused and hesitant my Gerald did and I saw a very funny “what’s that” face from him when he saw the head. He said seeing the hair felt gross, hahahaha! 6th push – yey!!! She was out!!!

Gerald cut the cord – and he looked like he was about to faint. Thank God he didn’t. He deserved to do it for all the pain, scratches and quick punch he got from me. He is my best support ever! I cannot do it without him.

They put Laura in my chest, and directly latch. IT WAS THE MOST WONDERFUL FEELING EVER. I am finally a mom who experienced it all.

It was 22 hours of excruciating pain, AND I WILL DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.

Regina's Birth Story

13 May 2014

VBAC with epidural (39w 5d)

Baby 2.47kg

21 June 2012

First birth with emergency C-section (37w 4d)

Baby 2.985kg

My first birth was a C-section not because there was a life-threatening situation but because, according to my gynae, I would be too tired after waiting for so many hours. Being inexperienced, I went to hospital soon after my water bag burst, despite having read that I could wait, because I had called the hospital and the staff asked me to go in. My contractions started on the way to the hospital, where I spent the night.

The following morning, my gynae came and suggested epidural to relax my cervix so that it could dilate faster. I trusted her judgement and agreed even though I had wanted a drug-free birth. 18 hours after admission, I had dilated 6cm. It was around 8pm then and there were probably around 5 people including my gynae in my delivery room. She advised me to get a C-section so that I wouldn’t become too tired. One of the nurses said, “You should listen to your doctor.” Today, I know I might have had a natural birth had I waited longer and not blindly trusted my gynae.

After the birth, my gynae said that my future births would have to be C-section. I was not told this beforehand! It took me a while to come to terms with what had happened.

At the beginning of my second pregnancy, I went online to research about having a normal birth after a C-section. To my relief, it was possible and I was a good candidate for a VBAC. However, I could no longer go back to the gynae who delivered my first child. I searched online for a gynae who would be supportive of VBAC and discovered to my disappointment that there are very few. In fact, I found only one. So I went to this gynae. It was uneventful except near full term when he mentioned a scan to see the thickness of the C-section scar to determine if I could still try for a VBAC. He had never mentioned this scan before. Fortunately, from the scan I was still suitable for VBAC.

I read as much as I could about the labour process, and positions to adopt during contractions. I also joined a VBAC support group on Facebook. There are many stories of doctors who say that they are open to the idea of VBAC at the beginning of a pregnancy, but start to discourage mothers from trying for one in the third trimester. This is true even in Singapore. It really helped to read VBAC stories regardless of whether they were successful, as they prepared me to keep an open mind and gave me tips on how to avoid another C-section. My plan was to labour at home for as long as possible, not take epidural, and keep mobile the whole time. However, things did not turn out entirely the way I wanted.

My second labour lasted 22 hours, starting with my amniotic sac leaking at 2.30pm. I spent 17 hours labouring at home. When I reached the hospital at around 8am the next day, I was 4cm dilated. The nurses kept telling me that I had to inform them early if I wanted epidural. Because my baby’s heart rate dipped every time I had a contraction, I was not allowed to take the monitor off. I was confined to the bed lying on my side. My husband had to massage my lower back to relieve the pain with every contraction.

The pain increased in intensity and I took to shouting! Then I found that pushing relieved the pain. A nurse came to give me entonox to try to give the baby oxygen as his heart rate still dipped with contractions. The gas helped me to follow the urge to push. By then I was 6-7cm dilated, and from previous experience I thought I still had a long time to go before the baby came out, so I wanted to give in and take epidural. But the senior nurse, seeing that I could still cope, said to wait till my gynae arrived.

When the gynae arrived I was 8cm dilated. He said my baby’s heart rate dipped due to head compression during contractions, and that was normal. I don’t know if he knew that I mentioned taking epidural, but he told the nurses to give me epidural and left the room. The anaesthetist pressed something on my entonox mask to increase the speed of the gas, which was a great relief! I had spent the whole night working through contractions and eaten very little for breakfast so the gas was a great refresher. After administration of the epidural, two nurses came in with the gynae and they began setting up to prepare for delivery. The gynae said something that sounded very strange: “I am going to help you.”

The pain had reduced and was replaced by a strong urge to push. The baby crowned with the first push. Vacuum was used during the third push. It was painful; the epidural had not fully set in yet. And the baby was out. He had meconium on him. Gynae injected oxytocin to induce delivery of the placenta, and stitched up some tears.

It was great to be able to breastfeed Joseph minutes after he was born. He was very alert. In the month after the birth, I had to endure pain from the tearing and at the tailbone. But that was just a temporary inconvenience. I am glad I avoided another C-section!

Lin's Birth Story

1^st May 2011

3.85kg

Natural tear, drug-free  

I have always expected that I would give birth naturally. I had this constant fear of childbirth though, as we grew up hearing horror stories and seeing images on TV.  Everyone around me was telling me that it was going to be very painful and I should opt for epidural. It was even more scary to me as I had zero pain tolerance.

First Birth

My first pregnancy went on smoothly. Baby was growing well. I went to a gynae recommended by a friend. I trusted the gynae and did not read up much. As my weight ballooned, I grew apprehensive. I asked the gynae whether my baby would get too big. He told me there was no correlation between the mother’s and baby’s weight. He even said that eating durians was okay. As I had cravings for sweet stuff, I happily ate carbohydrates, durians, cakes and desserts. Only in the last stage of the pregnancy did he tell me that my baby was overweight.

“Just Go With The Flow”

When I told him I was worried baby was too big for me to birth naturally, he said, “What’s there to worry? Just go with the flow.” He meant that if I could not birth naturally, just go through Caesarean. No big deal. To him, it was a surgical procedure he performed every day.

Impending Induction

When I was almost due, the gynae gave me a ‘grace period’ of 3 days. Why 3 days? It was just a magic number, his tolerance level. I was so stressed the week before the EDD as I knew I had to be induced if birth did not start spontaneously. I knew that induction usually led to C-section. No matter how much walking and exercise I did, there was no sign at all. I was tense and cried every day.

Just 1cm More But...

Finally 2 days after the EDD, we admitted to hospital for induction. Big mistake. After 20 hours of induction plus epidural, lying in bed waiting for the dilation, my cervix dilated to 9cm and stopped progressing! The nurses came in for the VE every hour. I developed fever, maybe due to the side effects of epidural or the frequent VE which caused infection. I asked for more time for the cervix to be fully dilated, as it was just 1cm left. The gynae said, “Well, you have to bear your own risk if you want to wait further.”

Devastated and Disappointed

So I was not given a choice. I cried while being wheeled into the OT. I came out devastated and disappointed, and with a painful wound on my tummy. The recovery was painful and breastfeeding was challenging. I was not even able to carry my son for the first few weeks.

Yes, my boy was big, 4.1kg, but I still don’t believe that that was the reason for the failure to progress.

This Time I Want a VBAC

For my second pregnancy, I wanted a VBAC badly and started to read up. People around me were not supportive of VBAC at all. You'd think that women would understand how important the birth experience is to a mother, but no. I was quite affected when a mum told me that it was no big deal to have c-section again since I had my tummy ‘cut’ once. Another mum told me, the scar was just like a zip. “Go for elective Caesarean and you could be in control.”

Making Changes

I went through the forum looking for mums with VBAC experience. I knew I had to make a few changes if I wanted to have a successful VBAC. That was when I got to know May, and she gave me very sound advices:

1)               I had to change my gynae to a pro-natural doctor, who had experience with VBAC. I got to know from a few mums that Dr Paul Tseng is a very good doctor and all had natural births with him.

2)               I took a hypnobirthing course, as it would help me have a gentle birth, which was essential for VBAC.

3)               I engaged a doula for labour support.

Dr Paul gave me good vibes at the first consultation. He said the reason that my cervix failed to dilate could be due to the size of the baby or the position. So we set the understanding right at the start. He did not promise me that I would get VBAC, but at least we could try. So I followed a strict diet to ensure that my baby did not get too big this time. I exercised regularly and practised hypnobirthing techniques.

I liked it that Dr Paul did not need to scan every visit to check that my baby was doing well. He would estimate the size of the baby and not worry me with the numbers, though one of the scans revealed that the baby seemed to be on the big side.

No Signs At 40 Weeks

On the 40^th week, I started to panic, fearing it might be just like my first birth. There were no false contractions, no lightening, no signs at all. I went for the checkup with a heavy heart, as I was afraid that Dr Paul might ask me to fix a date for C-section. (VBAC births cannot be induced as it will cause undue stress to the previous scar.)

Dr Paul checked the heartbeat and the water level, and told me, “Okay, see you next week if nothing happens.” He estimated that the baby was around 3.3 – 3.4kg. He told me that he could wait for 2 weeks, but he would monitor the situation closely. I was so relieved!! That day, I put my heart at ease and went shopping and eating with my husband and son.

In Labour on Labour Day

The very next morning, 1^st May 2011 which incidentally is Labour Day, I started to feel surges at 4.30am, It was a strange sensation I'd never felt before. I couldn’t sleep although I was very tired. So I walked around, timed the surges and tried to go back to sleep. By about 7am, the surges came fast and furious! My son woke up and looked for me. This distracted me from my breathing and the surges became unbearable. I called my doula, Manu, and she was so upbeat about it. She said, “Yes, this is it! I’m so happy for you!”

To The Hospital

We rushed to hospital, and reached there about 9am. Manu reached there about the same time. It was so comforting to see her, and she had a big backpack of stuff and a birth ball. I knew I would be taken care of. It was a pity that I couldn’t get the room with the water tub, as I heard that it was very comforting to soak in water, like natural pain relief.

Already 9cm Dilated

The nurse requested to perform a routine VE but I insisted that I wanted Dr Paul to do it.  Thinking back, I made the right decision, as Dr Paul was very gentle and I only had to do it once. I was already 9cm dilated! From then on, I just managed the surges, and breathed through every one of them. Manu kept reminding me to breathe deeply, as I was taking short breaths when the surges came.

Kneeling, Eating & Drinking

I changed to a kneeling position, to give baby more space to move down the birth passage. However, the kneeling position was very intense, and it took a lot of effort and strength to stay that way. I didn’t know how long I lasted in that position, but I had to turn around and lie on my back again. I ran out of energy as I did not have my breakfast. My husband kept me hydrated with water and Milo, and Manu made me oatmeal which was filling and so comforting. I was actually allowed food while in labour. (I was denied food and water for 24 hours for my last birth).

The Hardest Part

When Dr Paul came back again, I was told that they could see baby’s hair at the opening, but I had to push baby out. Dr Paul said, “This is the hardest part.” That was the time I followed the contractions and the sensation to poo, or push. I nearly gave up after many, many pushes, as the baby seemed to be going back and forth, but not out of the opening. Dr Paul was very patient and was with me the whole time, and gave me lots of encouragement.

We tried different breathing methods, lifting my legs, etc. For all the surges, I was so glad to have my hubby’s big, strong hands to hold on tightly to. It gave me the comfort and strength to pushed for almost 2 hours. Finally, I heard positive comments that the baby’s head was out. Dr Paul told me to stop pushing and just breathe.

The Ring of Fire

As I did, I could feel a burning sensation. I was thinking to myself, so this is the ‘ring of fire’. It lasted only 10 seconds, and then my baby was out.

Mind Over Body

Baby Alivia was placed on me with her umbilical cord still attached. She was gorgeous. I was so happy that I did it, without any pain relief, just pure mind over body, concentration and positive thoughts. I didn't have IV plugs on me, and baby was alert and could suckle immediately. The wonderful nurse who was with me throughout my labour, requested if she could weigh Alivia before her shift ended. She really wanted to know. She came back and announced, “3.85kg my dear!” and remarked how brave I was to birth a big baby naturally.

Fast Recovery

I had a natural tear (no episiotomy) and the stitching was surprisingly not as painful as I had imagined. The after-labour pain was manageable, compared to a C-section wound. I did not even need to take any painkillers for it. In less than 2 weeks, the wound healed completely.

It was such an empowering and amazing experience. My mother gave birth to 3 kids without pain relief and I thought women of that era were so strong and had high pain tolerance. It is actually just the fear of childbirth that make us think that we are less capable than our mothers. It was absolutely true that our bodies are made to birth the natural way, and it should be the only way.

I DID IT!!!

- Lin

Anna's Birth Story

Prince T
February 2003
My first baby was in a breech presentation. "Your water bag has burst for more than 24hrs, leaving little fluid for baby to turn." my doctor told me. I was advised to have a Caesarean section.

Prince J
Mar 2005
For the birth of my 2nd son, I wanted to have a VBAC. I read up, did my research, planned, consulted, and did my exercises. My gynae was supposedly supportive, but on hindsight, I realised a lot of things went in the way of a Caesarean section. I went into labour spontaneously and laboured for more than 24 hours, but was still not fully dilated. It was then that my gynae suggested a Caesarean section due to "Failure to Progress".

I was very upset at the turn of events. I was not sure if I even wanted another baby because of the kind of birth process I had gone through. Family and friends reminded me to focus on the bundles of joy that I have, and not on the process. Over time, I got over it, but never forgot how it felt to have things out of control and totally the way I didn't like it to be.

When I finally felt ready to have another child, I was very determined that it not be a scary experience, but a joyful one. I engaged a doula, and prepared for it even more than for my second child. I also decided to switch to a doctor that was fully supportive of a VBA2C (Vaginal Birth After 2 Caesareans).

Princess E
Feb 2010
Successful VBA2C (Vaginal Birth After 2 Caesareans)
Natural birth, drug-free

It was the most amazing experience. Much more relaxing this time round as I laboured mostly at home. I got to the hospital at 1.45pm, and in less than 2 hours, Princess E was born at 3.21pm. Even my hubby felt like crying tears of joy. He keeps saying he wants more kids now, because of how joyful he felt, and how wonderful the birth experience was. But we are stopping at three, as they are already quite a handful!

- Anna

Angie's Birth Story

Congrats to Angie on your recent VBAC! Thanks for sharing your birth story here.

Rayna Wong Yi Qing
Born 9th Sept 2010
3.27kg
50cm
22hrs labour
Natural tear with epidural

"All along I knew that I wanted to give birth the natural way, but I was too naïve to think that it will come naturally.

My first child was born prematurely at week 34, for the reason of amniotic fluid too low since week 32. It was an induced labor, I failed to dilate after 24hrs, ended up had an emergency C-Sec.

For my 2^nd child, I wanted a natural birth, that would be VBAC (Vaginal birth after Caesarean) and I knew it would not happen “naturally”, I had to plan for it! I mentioned my plan to the gynae. He was ok with the idea, though he has the obligation to tell me the risk of VBAC and he did it very professionally.

He started to mention uterine rupture at week 32. “C-sec would be a better option, it would be easier for everyone”. Yes easier for everyone except for me and my baby. I know natural birth would be the best for me and my baby, I cannot let myself go under the knife again without trying to have natural birth. That is, if my baby and I are in the condition to do it (e.g. baby position is right; her heart beat is healthy; there is no issue with my blood pressure, etc).

My husband was very worry about the risk of VBAC: uterine rupture. Oh me too! But I also know that fear will not helped anyone, especially if I wanted to give birth the natural way, I have to learn how to do it and I need to learn how to have “no fear”.

I started my study on the Internet and I came to communicate with some mums who had gone through the same situation.

Jul 30: “Met” a great Mum (May) on the internet, she was sharing her experience about Hypnobirthing and her success of VBAC. That was very inspiring! She recommended a Doula and some labor technique such as birthing ball, birth plan, etc (see below for her tips!). I wished to be able to do the same and I had to keep myself motivated!

Many people asked me why am I so keen to try natural birth, with the “risk” of VBAC, the unknown hours of labor, the pain and after all that, there is no guarantee of a success!! Yes, I knew all the consequences, but not only because I feel that natural birth is the best for my BB and myself but also for a speedy recovery so that I will have time for my elder son! I love my children, I want the best for them, and as a mother, I have the instinct of what would be the best for us. I know that VBAC is a great challenge, with gynae and hubby both on the “better-to-have-C-sec” side… and I know if I wanted VBAC, I have to try my very best to prepare for it!!

“Unfortunately” my husband is the conservative type, he is more worry about the RISK of rupture (hence may be fatal!) and unknown complication that he would not want to imagine.

All the while when I saw my gynae, I mentioned about VBAC and he seems to be very neutral about the idea (did not say yes or no), only when I reached week 32 then he mentioned about the risk and that it is “safer” to have a C-sec. That was his final statement. (I wondered how can they be sure that C-Sec has lesser risk?!) Too bad that I only knew about this at the end of my pregnancy, it was already week 32, it's kind of too late to change gynae?!

But I knew that I could make a final decision about how I wanted to give birth, so what I needed to do was pick up the knowledge and practice that I would need before I go into labour! I needed to get reference books from the library about hypnobirthing, natural birthing technique, etc. And I'd better do it sooner!!

Also, I needed to pray that my baby will agree with me and will initiate natural labour, not too early or too late.

2 Aug: Hubby disagreed with my “over-enthusiasm about VBAC”. He said that I should trust our gynae and wait-and-see if everything is fine to persue VBAC ?! OK I have to agree with that. I have to admit that natural birth is not guaranteed. It depends on baby's position at the very last stage of pregnancy, my own health condition, any issue such as if baby is distress during labor etc. OK I will wait and see but at the meant time I MUST prepare myself for VBAC too. If I fail to plan, I plan to fail!!

Borrowed some books from library, included "HypnoBirthing (The Mongan Method) 3rd edition.

Tips from May:

“No doula? Its ok. No supportive hubby or gynae? That’s ok too!! What you do need to have is a relaxed state of mind and to have NO FEAR”

“Remember, when there's no fear, you can relax. If you relax, the uterine muscles will dilate. If the uterus muscles dilate, your baby can come out!”

1) I ate biscuits and bananas and water during labour at home. Helps to last the marathon.
2) I did perineum massage (learnt from the book), I must say it did help although I didn't like doing it. Now is the best time to start, if you do everyday for 5 minutes, you're helping the muscles "warm up" for the big day.
3) Tell your baby constantly when you want him/her to come out. He/she might just listen! Worked for my friend's 3 kids, I tried and worked for mine as well.

36hours record of VBAC experience

8-Sept-2010 (Wed)

9am – Bloody Show (brownish discharge)

3pm – CTG @ TMC, everything is fine, no contraction

5:30pm onwards – Fresh bloody runny discharge frequently, contraction started

6pm – 7pm: Time contraction, irregular, average duration less than 1min, 10min interval

9pm – 10pm: Time contraction again, more than 1min/contraction, interval less than 5min

11pm: Call gynae, advised to be admitted to TMC

11:45pm: Arrived TMC, settled down at observation room

9-Sept-2010 (Thur)

12am: started labor

12am – 4am: Walked, squatted, frog position, tried to relax and at the same time speed up the labor!

4am: ONLY dilated 2cm after 4hrs!!

8am: gynae visited, still 2cm (after 8hrs!!), were told if dilation did not happened by 8pm, we have to go for c-sec (another 12hrs to try!) Husband worried about my condition, I must have looked pretty bad after staying awake the whole night.

8am – 12pm: continue to walk, squat, frog position, getting very tired. Contraction is getting stronger and stronger.

1pm: 4cm!

2pm: 5cm! I started to feel too tired to keep going and op for epidural

3pm-5pm: had a little nap

6pm: 7cm!!

8pm: 8cm!

8:10pm: moved to birthing ward. Nurses guided the birthing very well, tried to get to 10cm for an hour. Husband became the cheer leader, encourage birthing whenever I felt the urge.

PS: I can hear next door birthing process, nurse shouting PUSH, Push, push, Mum screamed and later on, baby cried.

9:30pm: Gynae arrived. He said that baby heart beat is getting weaker, he told the nurse to prepare vacuum tools. Water bag burst naturally.

10:11pm We were overjoyed and in tears to receive our new love of life, Rayna Wong ! Weight: 3.27kg, Height: 50cm. She was put to my arms immediately, I witness the cut of umbilical cord. I tried to latch her on and she sucked very well! We did it!! We succeeded on VBAC!!"

- Angie Wong

May's Birth Story

I'll start the ball rolling with my birth story:

Daen Lau
Born 26th March 2010
3.25kg
Natural tear, drug-free

We've all grown up with these images of delivery : the woman, screaming in pain, gripping her panic-stricken husband, the midwives shouting commands of "one-two-three push!", the doctor resorting to epidurals and forceps to "get the baby out".

Many women just accept that the pain and the upcoming "ordeal" was the price to pay for having a baby.

But my pain threshold is SO low. I can't even endure pre-menstrual cramps and would take painkillers at the first sign of it. Instinctively, I knew I needed an alternative way to deal with the birthing process when the time came.

I learnt about Hypnobirthing from a dear friend - the way to a drug-free, painless natural birth with significantly shorter labour. She had successfully utilised the technique and gave birth within 4 hours of reaching the hospital. Hmmm...all you had to do was condition your mind and learn a few relaxation techniques to have a gentle birth? It sounded too good to be true.

We were still not fully convinced, but we decided to give it a shot.

Ian and I attended classes diligently to learn more about this technique.

For the first time, we watched videos of women in labour that were so different from the televised images we have become accustomed to. These women were in labour but they looked like they were sleeping! Some did not even make a sound as their babies emerged! Some even squatted and passed their babies out into their own hands! It was surreal, but oh so natural.

When complications arose with Vera, my plans for a hypnobirth were shoved aside and what took place was a C-section that was so traumatic for me that I swore I'd never give birth again if I had to have one.

So when Daen came along, the choice was clear. I had to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesearean).

Problem is, very few doctors out there are comfortable with letting women do this. There is a 1% risk of uterine rupture due to the surgical cut of the previous Caesarean if a woman pushes too hard during the next delivery. If that happens, an emergency C-section is necessary and a supposedly normal baby could come out with severe complications.

People offered well-meaning but cautionary advice.

"I think you better have a c-section, it's safer,"

Doctors asked me: "1% risk is quite high you know, are you prepared to put your baby at risk?"

I needed help to believe in a VBAC. But I knew of no one who had had one. On internet forums, there were hardly any moms sharing their success stories.

Luckily, Ian was supportive right from the start. And we found our wonderful doula Lauren. And we got Dr Paul (one of the handful of gynaes in Singapore who supports VBACs) to be our obstetrician.

So I picked up where I left off and diligently continued preparing for a hypnobirth. With help at home looking after Vera, I was able to devote time to conditioning my mind, re-programming it to think in a whole new way:

1) That there is no such thing as "pain".
2) That the body itself knows how to birth a baby vs WE needing to instruct it to.
3) That there is no such thing as "pushing", only "breathing".

Determined that this time, I was going to get the birth I want, I tried my best to zone out whenever people shared their stories of how they couldn't endure the pain and had to ask for painkillers or gas.

And when the time came, everything just fell into place. All my years of controlled breathing during my choir-singing days and my experience with slow breathing as a diver finally came in handy.

I breathed like there was no tomorrow.

Early Labour - Focused on breathing, breathing and breathing

With the help of my oh-so-calming doula Lauren and my cool-cucumber hubby, I laboured in the comfort of home for 6 hours before heading to the hospital.

I was afraid that the change to a clinical environment would slow down my progress but I needn't have worried. Once we got there, Lauren made sure that I did not have to speak to any nurses nor deal with any admission paperwork whatsoever.

Towards to end, I did lose focus when the surges became too intense. But Lauren always assured me, "You're doing beautifully," Those three words were all it took to keep me going.

Final Stage - Getting intense as baby bears down

I continued to labour on the birth ball, on a birthing stool, and even in the warm water tub.

And it was true: When the time came to push, I didn't have to. My body did it for me, on auto-pilot. It was like it had taken over from the mind. And after about 8 times, it birthed my baby out - into the hands of the midwife - even before Dr Paul returned.

At no point did I ask for gas or drugs. And because of that, baby Daen came into my arms so alert, and I was perfectly conscious to have and to hold my baby - straight from my womb, his umbilical cord still attached.

Straight from womb to arms, fully alert and calm

I had waited for this moment for 2 years. The emotional release was so overwhelming I burst into tears for a good 10 minutes.

I did it!

Sometimes in life, you just have to take a leap of faith and believe. We are so blessed and thankful that everything turned out just the way we wanted:

Au naturel!